Hockey World League (Men's and Women's)

[sameerph]

Yes, forward line looks messy. We have been waiting for long time for Akashdeep, Ramandeep and Uthappa to improve and now are waiting for Mandeep, Talwinder and Satbir also to do the same for last couple of years at least. Will they improve some day like Chinglensana and before him Dharmveer did ? We can only hope.

[jaydeep]

And moreover, Sreejesh is still injured.

[ssp]

Yes Sameer, I'm ok with guys that improve like Chinglensana and Dharamvir and before them, Gurvinder Singh Chandi (although injury curtailed the latter's career).

Akashdeep, Mandeep, Uthappa and Ramandeep have been in the squad for 3+ years. In my book if you can't trap on the open side of the stick and make simple 10m passes when under little pressure after such a long 'trial', you need to go away from the national team and improve yourself before being considered for selection. On top of that these guys get dispossessed almost 80% of the time. We simply can not carry so many poor players as we have to contend with awful umpiring.

Affan, Sumit, Gurbaj, Gurinder, Gurjant and Nikkin would have given us a much better chance of success.

[ssp]

Before the HWL semi finals, we are playing in a 3 nations tournament featuring Germany & Belgium. Each team plays the other twice. Good preparation but I don't think we can expect too much with the midfield and forwards chosen. If we can avoid 4 defeats, it will be OK.However, we could get thrashed in all 4 games!

Yesterday, Belgium beat Germany 5-2. We start against Belgium tonight.

[ssp]

2-1 loss to Belgium. 2 goals conceded in the last 10 mins, so nothing new there. Slightly better than expected result, but a defeat was inevitable
Frankly, with the forwards we have, scoring goals is going to be a problem.

[ssp]

We drew 2-2 with Germany with a goal conceded 8 mins from the end. So we just can't close out narrow leads against the better teams. Still, we have avoided a defeat against Germany, and that is encouraging.

[PKBasu]

I'm glad we played the best teams in the run-up to the HWL. Hockey India is much more professional in its approach than the old IHF. That we drew with Germany and lost narrowly to Belgium is encouraging -- although the 40 year old affliction of conceding in the last 10 minutes of a match persists.

[ssp]

We have beaten Belgium 3-2 today! Great result. We actually held onto a lead for the last 10+ mins. This is very encouraging. Pleased to be proven wrong with my predictions so far. Let's get another great result v Germany to finish this tournament.

[jaydeep]

Well done, indeed encouraging.

[sameerph]

Wow that must be our first win over Belgium after a few years. Performances in this tournament are getting better by the day.
.
2 PC goals by Harmanpreet there is also encouraging. He certainly seems to be a find for us.

[ssp]

Although the matches weren't streamed, it looks like we were pretty competitive in the 1st loss to Belgium as we won 5 PCs and hit the bar in that match. We conceded 2 goals within a minute to lose that one. The star so far has been Harmanpreet. I was impressed with him back in 2014, when we won the Sultan Johor Cup. I was hoping he would make the senior team and he hasn't disappointed.

Similarly, I hope Sumit gets a permanent place with the seniors, because he has been consistently good since the 2016 HIL. Unfortunately, the selectors decided to go back to Uthappa! No comparison, despite the vast difference in experience.

Armaan Qureshi is another youngster who deserves a decent run. He hasn't made it to the senior squad yet, but let's hope he stays fit and doesn't drop put of the scene as many other have done in the past. Mandeep, Akashdeep or Talwinder never seem to contribute as much as other top forwards in international hockey.

[ssp]

Lost 2-0 to Germany and I suspect we will finish last in this tournament now. Still, pleasantly surprised to see the results. We conceded goals in the last 10 mins in 3 of the 4 matches, and this habit is costing us badly.

[arjun2761]

I guess the final position doesn't matter since this is a practice tournament. Looking at the overall play, it seems we played well for the first 3 matches but the final loss appears to be a downer. Hopefully, that will not carry over going forward.

[jaydeep]

Sumit was one of our best players in the Azlan Shah tournament, but is dropped in favour of Uthappa!! Why? Manpreet (jnr) didn't have a great outing, but he is still a stronger player than Satbir. The front line is just awful. I predicted after the Malaysia loss at the Azlan Shah Cup that Affan would be dropped, yet the real culprits- Mandeep, Akashdeep and Talwinder would remain. Crazy thinking....but standard for our selectors

Rupinder Pal Singh, and SK Uthappa have been ruled out of the Hero Hockey World League Semi-Final ... Uthappa had to return home to attend to a family emergency ... So in place of Uthappa, Sumit will come in ... Rupinder will be unavailable for the tournament due to a hamstring injury, Rupinder will be replaced by defender Jasjit Singh Kular.

[ssp]

We are losing 1-0 to Scotland at half time!! Nothing is too shocking for Indian hockey

Forwards are pathetic and every attack just fizzles out due to terrible passes or lack of ball control.

A brilliant 3rd quarter sees us win 4-1. Only won 1 PC and some usual sloppy play, but at least we won.

At half time we were looking a bit silly. Mandeep and Talwinder were poor (no surprise), Satbir didn't do anything of note-except get a green card and Pardeep Mor kept losing the ball or gave away fouls when in a good attacking positions.

Positives were good possession, fewer errors near our own D and good composure, especially after conceding that early goal. However, we'll need to play better than this against the stronger teams.